Tsipras: ENFIA stays in 2017, tax relief from 2018

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras promised the 246 million Euros collected through the TV licensing tender would be directed towards alleviating the burden on weaker social groups by implementing a series of initiatives, during his speech at the 81st Thessaloniki International Fair, Saturday night. Tsipras said the ENFIA property tax would remain in force in 2017, despite his promises to the contrary promises in 2015 to scrap it, adding his government would relieve the tax burdens from 2018 onwards. ‘I understand that the lower social groups have exhausted their tax giving ability’, he stressed. The Greek PM said lower taxes in 2018 were directly linked to growth and a new revised deal with the country’s creditors regarding the reduction of Greece’s GDP primary surplus target, despite the EuroGroup President’s statement only a day earlier that any talks of revising the 3.5% target were off the table. Tsipras defended his government’s performance over the past year, claiming the promises made a year before from Thessaloniki were being realised. He blasted main opposition party New Democracy for staunchly defending the interests of economic oligarchs and offshore owners. Tsipras outlined his road map for Greece exiting the crisis by strengthening the economic climate through the widespread introduction of plastic money, the establishment of an exclusive account for paying suppliers, payrolls and social security and tax payments. On the matter of the large infrastructure projects, Tsipras argued he had inherited a ‘chaotic situation’, claiming his government had succeeded in reigniting the bulk of the big infrastructure projects and renegotiating all the contracts for the highways. The Greek PM pledged to ‘freeze’ the overdue debts by thousands of freelance professionals until the end of 2016.